Last week came with good news for Africa as Congolese rumba music won Unesco protected status. It joined other living traditions such as Jamaican Reggae on Unesco’s intangible cultural heritage of ...

Mbilia Bel sounds exactly the same in person as she does on radio. In fact, as impossible as it seems in this age of auto tune, her voice is even more impressive when she is seated right in front of ...

Fally Ipupa is a superstar of African music. Hailing from the Democratic Republic of Congo, his songs have had over a billion YouTube views and Forbes magazine has listed him as one of the continent’s ...

Prologue: a mighty sound: Mobutu and the musicians, 1997 -- Difficult delivery: Bowane, Leopold II, Stanley, Brazza, Kamba, Feruzi, and Wendo, 1946 and before -- Why don't you make a record? Olympia, ...